IDS 101: The Geography of Food (College Colloquium)
Food and the agricultural systems that produce what we eat are strongly connected to geography. Geography has influenced where crops were domesticated, the foods that different cultures eat, and the map of industrial agriculture today. For many people their culture is most clearly expressed by the foods that they eat; even if these foods were once introduced from a very different place. In this course we will look at the geographic areas where agriculture started and discuss the different theories of why humans switched from hunter-gatherer to domesticated crops. We will then explore the movement of crops from their centers of origin and the influences that these exchanges have had. From this topic we transition to a discussion of modern-industrial agriculture. We will also look at some of the counter movements to industrial agriculture, including sustainability, wild foraging and the recent ‘locavore’ trend. Finally we will explore our local food landscape in the highly diverse and productive Willamette Valley.